Details

After a storm surge hit the Dutch coast at November 9, 2007, old deposits were discovered in the eroded dunes near Heemskerk, the Netherlands. The deposits have been recognized as evidence of one or two historical storm surges. From historical records, it is known that major storm surges occurred in 1775 and 1776 ; most likely one or both of these events are responsible for the deposition of the layers. The aim of this thesis is to model the 1775 storm surge and its capability to reach the
maximum height at which the deposits have been discovered. The modelling has been done with the numerical program XBeach, using a probabilistic approach and historical data as input. Secondary objectives are (a) to give an estimation of the probability of exceedance of the 1775 storm surge and (b) to compare the effects of this storm surge on a open dune front (historical situation) and a closed dune front (present situation).